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Islam and Apostasy: Difference between revisions
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__NOEDITSECTION__{{QualityScore|Lead=3|Structure=4|Content=3|Language=4|References=3}}'''Apostasy''' (ارتداد, irtidād and ridda), or leaving the religion, is a serious offense in [[Islam]]. Rejecting any part of Islamic doctrine, whether derived from the [[Quran]] or from what are held by Islamic scholars to be incontrovertibly reliable [[hadith]], amounts to apostasy.<ref>[{{Reference archive|1=http://www.alsunna.org/Questions-about-Apostasy-Blasphemy.html|2=2011-02-25}} Questions about Apostasy (Blasphemy)] - Al Sunna.org</ref><ref>{{Quran|2|85}}</ref> The punishment for apostasy as prescribed by [[Muhammad]] and as delineated in all [[Madhhab|four schools]] of [[Islamic law]] is execution. Numerous [[Sahih]] (authentic) [[hadith]]s attribute this punishment as explicitly prescribed by Muhammad. In [[Sahih Bukhari]], for instance, it is recorded that “Allah's Apostle said, 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him'”.<ref name="apostasy2">M. Muhsin Khan (Translator) - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.cmje.org/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/084-sbt.php#009.084.057|2=2011-10-30}} Sahih Bukhari Volume 9, Book 84 - Dealing with Apostates, Number 57] - USC-MSA, [[Compendium of Muslim Texts]]</ref> Apostasy is also famously one of only three reasons, according to Muhammad, for which killing a Muslim is permitted.<ref>M. Muhsin Khan (Translator) - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.cmje.org/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/083-sbt.php#009.083.017|2=2011-10-30}} Sahih Bukhari Volume 9, Book 83 - Blood Money (Ad-Diyat), Number 17] - USC-MSA, [[Compendium of Muslim Texts]]</ref> One who commits apostasy is called a ''murtad'' (مرتد, or 'apostate'). One who hides his apostasy is referred to as a ''munāfiq'' (منافق, or 'hypocrite'). | __NOEDITSECTION__{{QualityScore|Lead=3|Structure=4|Content=3|Language=4|References=3}}'''Apostasy''' (ارتداد, irtidād and ردة ridda), or leaving the religion, is a serious offense in [[Islam]]. Rejecting any part of Islamic doctrine, whether derived from the [[Quran]] or from what are held by Islamic scholars to be incontrovertibly reliable [[hadith]], amounts to apostasy.<ref>[{{Reference archive|1=http://www.alsunna.org/Questions-about-Apostasy-Blasphemy.html|2=2011-02-25}} Questions about Apostasy (Blasphemy)] - Al Sunna.org</ref><ref>{{Quran|2|85}}</ref> The punishment for apostasy as prescribed by [[Muhammad]] and as delineated in all [[Madhhab|four schools]] of [[Islamic law]] is execution. Numerous [[Sahih]] (authentic) [[hadith]]s attribute this punishment as explicitly prescribed by Muhammad. In [[Sahih Bukhari]], for instance, it is recorded that “Allah's Apostle said, 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him'”.<ref name="apostasy2">M. Muhsin Khan (Translator) - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.cmje.org/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/084-sbt.php#009.084.057|2=2011-10-30}} Sahih Bukhari Volume 9, Book 84 - Dealing with Apostates, Number 57] - USC-MSA, [[Compendium of Muslim Texts]]</ref> Apostasy is also famously one of only three reasons, according to Muhammad, for which killing a Muslim is permitted.<ref>M. Muhsin Khan (Translator) - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.cmje.org/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/083-sbt.php#009.083.017|2=2011-10-30}} Sahih Bukhari Volume 9, Book 83 - Blood Money (Ad-Diyat), Number 17] - USC-MSA, [[Compendium of Muslim Texts]]</ref> One who commits apostasy is called a ''murtad'' (مرتد, or 'apostate'). One who hides his apostasy is referred to as a ''munāfiq'' (منافق, or 'hypocrite'). | ||
==Historical Context== | ==Historical Context== | ||
Islamic law draws heavily on the desert tribal norms that characterized its birthplace in 7th century Arabia. In this context, as in much of the ancient world, religion was a primarily communal rather than personal affair - commitment to the belief system of one's people was at the same time the basis of one's membership among those people. To abandon one's religion was to renounce not only a system of belief, but also (in the absence of strong secular notions of nationhood) the the society or community that was founded upon that belief. Thus, the norm in Arabia at the birth of Islam was to view apostasy as tantamount to a form of treason and renunciation of one's belonging to one's community. This did not, however, merit execution in all cases. After all, Muhammad himself was allowed to live in [[Mecca]] despite abandoning the 'religion of his forefathers', even if he was made to face some amount of persecution. Once Muhammad's movement of military conquest based out of Medina began, however, his group of believers was in a constant state of war with his neighbors. Since Muhammad cemented rather than overturned most of the contemporary tribal norms, this meant that apostasy at any point amounted to treason during a state of war, and thus merited execution. Islamic scholars, drawing on Muhammad's life, took these norms and turned them into the perennial dictates of Islamic law. Even among classical scholars born hundreds of years after Muhammad, the Islamic [[Khilafah (Caliphate)|caliphate]] was held to be in what was essentially a perpetual state of conquest, based on the [[Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islam (the Abodes of War and Peace)|Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islam (the Abode of War and the Abode of Peace)]] dichotomy, perpetuating the justification of this ruling. Since Islamic law is unchanging, however, and since a collapse of the Islamic state was not anticipated, the overwhelming majority of traditional Islamic scholars today continue to hold execution as the proper punishment for apostasy. Today, the punishment for apostasy is execution in 11 Muslim-majority countries and is outlawed and otherwise punishable in many, many more.<ref>https://persecution.exmuslims.org/map</ref> | Islamic law draws heavily on the desert tribal norms that characterized its birthplace in 7th century Arabia. In this context, as in much of the ancient world, religion was a primarily communal rather than personal affair - commitment to the belief system of one's people was at the same time the basis of one's membership among those people. To abandon one's religion was to renounce not only a system of belief, but also (in the absence of strong secular notions of nationhood) the the society or community that was founded upon that belief. Thus, the norm in Arabia at the birth of Islam was to view apostasy as tantamount to a form of treason and renunciation of one's belonging to one's community. This did not, however, merit execution in all cases. After all, Muhammad himself was allowed to live in [[Mecca]] despite abandoning the 'religion of his forefathers', even if he was made to face some amount of persecution. Once Muhammad's movement of military conquest based out of Medina began, however, his group of believers was in a constant state of war with his neighbors. Since Muhammad cemented rather than overturned most of the contemporary tribal norms, this meant that apostasy at any point amounted to treason during a state of war, and thus merited execution. Islamic scholars, drawing on Muhammad's life, took these norms and turned them into the perennial dictates of Islamic law. Even among classical scholars born hundreds of years after Muhammad, the Islamic [[Khilafah (Caliphate)|caliphate]] was held to be in what was essentially a perpetual state of conquest, based on the [[Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islam (the Abodes of War and Peace)|Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islam (the Abode of War and the Abode of Peace)]] dichotomy, perpetuating the justification of this ruling. Since Islamic law is unchanging, however, and since a collapse of the Islamic state was not anticipated, the overwhelming majority of traditional Islamic scholars today continue to hold execution as the proper punishment for apostasy. Today, the punishment for apostasy is execution in 11 Muslim-majority countries and is outlawed and otherwise punishable in many, many more.<ref>https://persecution.exmuslims.org/map</ref> | ||